Pass health bill now, administrators tell National Assembly

Health administrators in the country on Tuesday called on the National Assembly to pass the National Health Bill without further delay.

The health administrators also decried frequent strikes in the nation’s health sector and also demanded the creation of the Tertiary Health Commission.

The National President of the Institute of Health Service Administrators of Nigeria, Alhaji Aminu Bello-Sokoto, said at a press conference in Abeokuta to herald the 2013 conference of the institute, that passing the bill would bring great and positive changes to the nation’s health sector.

The institute’s conference holds between November 26 to 30 at the Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Aro, Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.

Bello-Sokoto said an act on health had become overdue and imperative in order to harmonise and streamline the activities of the various stakeholders in the nation’s health sector.

The IHSAN President therefore stated that the National Assembly should conclude their deliberations on the bill and pass it over to President Goodluck Jonathan for assent.

This, he said, would ensure that there was no repeat of the situation with the 2008 National Health Bill, which was allegedly doctored by some unknown persons before its final passage into law by the National Assembly resulting in the refusal by the then president to assent the bill.

punch